小说：失落的秘符

To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.

Langdon had to smile. No stone left unturned. Peter Solomon’s attention to detail was one of his most potent assets, allowing him to manage his substantial power with apparent ease. A few billion dollars in the bank doesn’t hurt either.

Always better to be cautious.

It was a proven fact that human intuition was a more accurate detector of danger than all the electronic gear in the world—the gift of fear, as one of their security reference books termed it.

Sometimes a legend that endures for centuries . . . endures for a reason.

Death is usually an all-or-nothing thing!

Every generation’s breakthroughs are proven false by the next generation’s technology. And so it had gone through the ages. The more man learned, the more he realized he did not know.

The ancients possessed profound scientific wisdom. Today’s science was not so much making “discoveries” as it was making “rediscoveries.” Mankind, it seemed, had once grasped the true nature of the universe . . . but had let go . . . and forgotten.

Knowledge is a tool, and like all tools, its impact is in the hands off the user.

Wide acceptance of an idea is not proof of its validity.

To look for a literal portal would be like trying to locate the actual Gates of Heaven.

Knowledge is power, and the right knowledge lets man perform miraculous, almost godlike tasks.

“Google” is not a synonym for “research.” In these days of massive, worldwide keyword searches, it seemed everything was linked to everything. The world was becoming one big entangled web of information that was getting denser every day.

Misunderstanding a culture’s symbols is a common root of prejudice.”

Known as an Unfinished Pyramid, it was a symbolic reminder that man’s ascent to his full human potential was always a work in progress.

Language can be very adept at hiding the truth.

The Solomons believed that an inheritance was more helpful at the beginning of someone’s life than at the end.

There are circles within circles, Robert. Not everyone knows everything.

What began years ago in misery . . . will end tonight in glory.

Wealth is commonplace, but wisdom is rare.

Wealth without wisdom can often end in disaster.

History is replete with great minds who have all proclaimed the same thing . . . great minds who have all insisted that man possesses mystical abilities of which he is unaware.

After all, every great philosophical shift in history began with a single bold idea.

Nothing is hidden that will not be made known, nor secret that will not come to light.

Director Inoue Sato was not a woman who often felt cold . . . or fear. At the moment, however, she was feeling both.

trauma had a way of burning memories deeper into the mind.

Only through the death experience could man fully understand his life experience. Only through the realization that his days on earth were finite could he grasp the importance of living those days with honor, integrity, and service to his fellow man.

The fact that evil could spring from an innocent child in a loving family remained one of the paradoxes of the human soul.

WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR OURSELVES ALONE DIES WITH US; WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR OTHERS AND THE WORLD REMAINS AND IS IMMORTAL.

Sometimes all it takes is a tiny shift of perspective to see something familiar in a totally new light.

History had blessed mankind with the wisest of teachers, profoundly enlightened souls whose understanding of the spiritual and mental mysteries exceeded all understanding.

TIME IS A RIVER . . . AND BOOKS ARE BOATS. MANY VOLUMES START DOWN THAT STREAM, ONLY TO BE WRECKED AND LOST BEYOND RECALL IN ITS SANDS. ONLY A FEW, A VERY FEW, ENDURE THE TESTINGS OF TIME AND LIVE TO BLESS THE AGES FOLLOWING.